Bann, River, County Down/Armagh/Antrim/Derry

Origin

Ir. An Bhanna 'the goddess'

Background

The River Bann is one of Ireland's largest rivers and is acknowledged as such in the early 9th-century text the Triads of Ireland where it appears in the company of the Shannon and the Boyne. It rises in Deers' Meadow in the parish of Clonduff (J 2725) and enters Lough Neagh approximately six miles north-west of Portadown. This part of the river is also known as the Upper Bann to distinguish it from the Lower Bann which makes its exit from Lough Neagh at Toome in Co. Antrim and enters the sea near Coleraine. In Modern Irish it is An Bhanna but this derives from an earlier Banda which O'Rahilly (1933, 217) analyses as a compound of ban and dea meaning 'a goddess'. It is not unusual for Irish river names to reflect the pagan worship of deities. The Bann in Co. Wexford and the Bandon in Co. Cork are similarly derived from Irish Banda (nom.), Ban(n)dain (dat.), and the Boyne derives its name from a goddess called Bóinn (earlier Boann < Bó Fhind 'white cow') in Irish (O'Rahilly 1933, 217; 1946, 3; GÉ 266). O'Donovan suggests that the Bann is to be identified with the Argita on a map of Ireland drawn by the Greek geographer Ptolemy c. 100 AD (64). O'Rahilly disagrees, however. He identifies the Argita with the River Bush and the Vidva with the Bann and goes on to equate the latter with Old Irish fedb "widow" (O'Rahilly 1946, 6). This is purely speculative and may not necessarily be correct.